SAINT ANDREW DECLARATION
Preamble
The Church of Jesus Christ has been present in Scotland for over 1,600 years. For over acentury following the Reformation, the church in Scotland, and Scotland’s monarch,wrestled over the order of the church: was it to be Presbyterian or Episcopalian?
Presbyterianism was suppressed after the restoration during the reigns of Charles II andJames VII, but the Presbyterian ordering of the Church of Scotland was confirmed underWilliam and Mary in 1690. Episcopalianism was suppressed, particularly after the Jacobite
uprisings in 1715 and 1745; a small Episcopalian church survived in Scotland, and English
immigration saw the establishment of Qualified Chapels which used the English liturgy.
During the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, the Church of Scotland was racked bydivision, focused on questions of patronage and the relationship between church and state,while the nineteenth century saw a gradual consolidation of the small Episcopal Church in
Scotland.
Whilst the ecclesiastical, social and political landscape has been shaped and reshaped on
innumerable occasions, the calling of the Church to serve the people of Scotland in ministryand mission has remained a constant. The Church of Scotland and the Scottish Episcopal
Church have now established a bilateral conversation expressed in the Our Common Calling
Working Group. In the course of our discussions we have acknowledged our shared history
and have named past conflicts, divisions and hurts. In so doing, we have learned from one
another and have asked forgiveness of each other where we have caused pain by our words
and actions. Within the context of these discussions, we have acknowledged that thetheological, sacramental and liturgical emphases within our respective churches areconsonant with the tradition which each represents. Alongside this, we have sought toacknowledge that our churches belong together as part of the One, Holy, Catholic andApostolic Church of Jesus Christ. In so acknowledging, we seek to explore ways in which we
may better work together as partners in ministry and mission, to serve Christ by serving thepeople of Scotland.
Declaration
In the light of our common calling within the life of the Church of Jesus Christ in Scotland,
shaped by our understanding of the mission of God, our agreement in faith and theopportunities to share in ministry and mission, we make the following Declaration:
We, the Church of Scotland and the Scottish Episcopal Church, make the following
acknowledgements and commitments, which are interrelated.
A) Acknowledgements:
i. We acknowledge one another's churches as churches belonging to the One, Holy, Catholicand Apostolic Church of Jesus Christ and truly participating in the apostolic mission of thewhole people of God.

ii. We acknowledge that our churches share in the common confession of the ApostolicFaith.
iii. We acknowledge that in our churches the Word of God is authentically preached, and thesacraments of Baptism and the Holy Communion are faithfully administered.
iv. We acknowledge one another's ordained ministries as possessing not only the inward callof the Spirit but also Christ's commission through the Church and are given by God as
instruments of grace for the mission and unity of the Church.
v. We acknowledge that personal, collegial and communal oversight (episkope) is embodied
and exercised in our churches in a variety of forms, as a visible sign expressing and serving
the Church's unity and continuity in apostolic life, ministry and mission. vi. We acknowledge
that our unity is as yet imperfect and look forward to the time when the fuller visible unityof our churches may be realised.
B) Commitments:
We commit ourselves to respond together to our common calling to proclaim the reign of
God to all the people of Scotland by strengthening our partnership in ministry and mission.
Through this commitment, we hope to enrich our continuing relationships locally, nationallyand internationally with the churches of Scotland and throughout the world, that we may
deepen our individual faith and serve God’s whole creation. We will welcome opportunities
to draw other churches into the activities and initiatives that we share. As part of thatcommitment to seek appropriate ways to respond to our common calling within the life ofthe Church of Jesus Christ, we will continue:
i. To pray for and with one another; to work towards the fuller sharing of ministry, and ofspiritual, human, financial and physical resources;
ii. To encourage, affirm and support local expressions of our common calling within the lifeof the Church as it participates in the mission of God, and to explore opportunities for new
partnerships in the communities in which we serve;iii. To welcome one another’s members to worship and participate in the congregational lifeof each other’s churches;
iv. To stimulate theological discussions between our churches, including on the outstanding
issues hindering fuller communion;
v. To work together in practical and prophetic ways on the social, political and ethical issues
arising from our shared participation in public life;
vi. To ensure that these commitments are followed through at every level of our church life;
to allocate resources to joint initiatives, and to hold one another to account on what wehave agreed to do.
In order to assist our churches in living out the Acknowledgements and Commitments of theSaint Andrew Declaration, we will appoint Co-Chairs and members of a Church of Scotland –Scottish Episcopal Church Working Group, whose purpose will be to encourage thedevelopment of our common calling within the Church of Jesus Christ in Scotland. TheWorking Group will report annually to the Committee on Ecumenical Relations of theChurch of Scotland and to the Inter-church Relations Committee of the Scottish EpiscopalChurch. Joint meetings of church leaders will be held regularly, and we will welcome
opportunities to draw other churches into the activities and initiatives that we share.
We see this as living out our response to the prayer of Jesus that we “may all be one . . . sothat the world may believe” (John 17: 21). In faithfulness, we commit to remain open towherever the Holy Spirit may be leading our churches.